Keep Calm...

...and Carry On. My new life motto. I got this great print from BluLima on Etsy that's a slogan the British government had commissioned during World War II to be posted in times of "crisis or invasion." There were three different slogans they came up with, and this one was never posted. My print is a gorgeous mulberry red, which perfectly matches the house. So, in times of crisis or invasion in your life (which for me happens, at least figuratively, at least once a day), repeat to yourself, "Keep calm and carry on." Very British; I love it.

Escapism

Every once in a while I like to forget about all the regular chore-type stuff I have to do (cleaning my house, doing homework, cooking, laundry....) and escape with a great book. I love mysteries, but I've exhausted Agatha Christie, and Josephine Tey, one of my favs. So I looked on Amazon at their lists, and found some authors who were grouped with ones I already like. I struck gold! I spent all Wednesday evening (staying up WAY past my bedtime) and Thursday afternoon reading "The Yellow Room," by Mary Roberts Rinehart. If you need an escape book, check it out!

3 Shakespeares

These Booklets were created as part of the Etsy Books April Book Challenge. World Book Day is April 23rd, which is also the anniversary of the deaths of William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes. So...the challenge was to create something related to one of these authors. These three mini Shakespeares were created with the pages of Much Ado About Nothing, one of my favorite of his plays; my all-time favorite being Twelfth Night. They will be up in my shop tomorrow!

SALE at the Bibliosophy Books Shop

Check out the shop April 23-26 for 20% off on everything in celebration of World Book Day. There will also be some new Will Shakespeare and Don Quixote Booklet pins.

He's All Grown Up...Well, Almost

Today I thought I'd share some pics of our furbaby. Gordon the Golden has been with us for almost two years, and has finally started turning into the dog I'd always imagined he could be! He loves to be with his mom and dad, eat, chew sticks and bones, and chase squirrels, birds, anything that's moving...

This is Gordon as a baby...

...and today...

A New Binding

I've been creating several books with this new binding lately, and I'm very pleased with how they've turned out! The ties on the side are cute, and the little patch of color in the middle of the binding is a subtle touch. This would be a great style for a wedding guest book, so I'll have to focus on some wedding-y colors. The peacock blue color with gold butterflies looks very Belle Epoque/Louis XIV to me.

I'm experimenting with some new styles as I await the arrival of my new Keith Smith book. Exposed Spine Sewings, which I already own, is a great resource, and I thought it was time to add a new "book on books" to my collection.

Baguette Bag with Unfurling Roses

This is a pic of my Noni felted bag, made for spring. I used the pattern for the long baguette-style bag, with the unfurling roses pattern for decoration. The handles were purchased online at M.J. Trimmings website; I love the transluscent pink color. I lined the bag with a Kaffe Fassett green umbrella print fabric. Overall, I think it was a success!

A Little Bit of Buttons

Yesterday I went to the Second Street Public Market with a friend and visited the wonderful shop of Marygen. She sells amazing vintage fabrics, trims, buttons, cameos, lamps, and all kinds of other vintage goodies. While I was there, I picked up some buttons in bright green, turquoise, and candy red to help re-vamp some boring clothes. Above are some pictures of the results; I'm pretty pleased, especially with the what-used-to-somewhat-boring navy dress from J. Crew. The cute-ness factor was upped considerably with those turquoise beauties!

"Booklets"

This is a preview of my new product: miniature books that are brooches. These are exactly the same as my coptic bound books, except they measure 1" x 1 1/4". I'm calling them "Booklets" because they're so cute, they needed a cute name. Some of the pages will be colored, and I'm going to use old maps too; and of course, you can actually write in the pages, because they are real books. The Booklets come finished with a pin back so you can proudly proclaim your love of books! The first one is for sale in my Etsy shop!

Dragonflies...

This is one of my newest books. I love the turquoise colored paper with the gold dragonflies. This is also my new favorite binding: exposed spine sewing on leather tapes. I think the leather tapes on the outside look really cool with the contrasting stitching thread. Haven't decided yet if this is going up on my Etsy site, or at a local gallery. The funny thing is, this is the same paper (in a different colorway) that I used to make my very first book, 5 years ago!

I love these flowers

I've been working on a little gift for a friend recently: a felted rose. It's large enough to make into a pin for a jacket, or to sew onto a bag. The designer of this pattern, Nora Bellows, has a line of felted bag and flower patterns (Noni Bags) which are GORGEOUS! I made a beautiful spring baguette style bag with two of these felted roses in light pink and hot pink. Her new line for spring is awesome, with felted tulips and hydrangea flowers

I'm going to package the rose in a clear cello sleeve with two colors of green felt cut with pinking shears for a background. So cute!

New Gift Wrapping

These are some bags I made yesterday to gift wrap my books in. They are made of muslin (which is only $0.99/yard), which I think looks old-fashioned, and printed with my shop name. I printed the name with an old advertising set of woodblock type that my husband found for me at a thrift store. I love the way the letters look, and the set has numbers too, plus some old advertising logos, like "Per Yard," and "Only." I have some cards in my shop that say "Only U."

I love the idea of re-usable gift bags; years ago, my mom started making them to replace normal paper wrappings for Christmas. Last year, I made a set for our family and my mother-in-law. It's the best idea, because you don't have to buy wrapping paper constantly, you can make them in all shapes and sizes, save them, and they're ready for Christmas next year! To make them, just fold your fabric, selvedge to selvedge, and cut whatever width you want your bag to be. Then, sew the sides, turn inside out, and hem the top. Easy! And they look so pretty and colorful in all different Christmas prints sitting under the tree.

Finally...Some Finished Books

My workshop on Saturday was great! I had a couple friends come, and some new people stopped by. We had fun making Japanese stab bound books, and some cool paper star books.

These books you see above are what I've been working on the last couple of days. I love longstitch bindings, and I tried something new with the beads on the blue one. The yellow and pink ones are a new binding I tried; I've seen this binding (or something like it) before and finally got around to trying it for myself. I think they look pretty cool with the inside paper peaking through the spine. The yellow one will be for sale soon in my Etsy shop, and the pink one is bound (ha! no pun intended) for the BEST Books shop, the Etsy bookbinding team shop.

As far as reading books goes, I'm enjoying "The Daughter of Time" (for about the 4th time) by Josephine Tey. Inspector Grant solves a historical mystery while he's bedridden in hospital. Great reading! And.......I'm counting the hours until the last installment of the new Masterpiece Theatre version of Sense and Sensibility, Sunday night at 9 p.m. Eastern! Yeah!